Group CEO of JMMB Group, Keith Duncan, says diversifying operations was key in securing the company’s most recent financial performance.

JMMB Group record a massive 278% jump in net profit for the third quarter ending December 2023, bringing in over $15 billion.

Speaking on Taking Stock with Kalilah Reynolds, Duncan said that around $14 billion was delivered by the gains on acquisition from the Canadian insurance company, Ivari.

Sagicor Financial Company acquired Ivari in 2023. JMMB owns a 23% stake in Sagicor Financial Company, which means that positive results for SFC will reflect on JMMB’s books.

Duncan said that deploying strategic investments, such as SFC, is one of the ways the company has diversified its operations over the years.

“Our results are consistent with our strategy, over the years, of diversification. We have been growing our business lines such as banking, investments, insurance brokerage and remittance payments,” the CEO said.

“We’ve also diversified across countries; Jamaica, Dominican Republic, Trinidad and now Barbados,” he added.

According to Duncan, diversification is necessary as the economy continues to battle with high-interest rates. He explained that with both local and international interest rates at the level they are now, it restricts how financial institutions operate by making it more expensive to do business.

The Bank of Jamaica has held interest rates at 7% since late 2022, up from 0.5% in 2019, and the US Federal Reserve has increased its interest rate to the 5% range. Duncan explained that those rates make it extremely difficult to keep operation costs down, especially for the investment banking arms of the business.

“Because JMMB started as an investment house, and that used to provide maybe 50-60% of our revenues and our profitability, when that got hit, it really threw us off,” he explained.

However, the CEO said incorporating other business lines like insurance and remittances has helped the company stay ahead of the curb.

“We are happy that we had our deliberate diversification strategy which has now paid off for us,” Duncan said.